From Psychologia Anthropologica to Psychotherapeutics: A Reconstruction of the Development of the Idea of Medical Psychology From the 16th to the 19th Century.

The article undertakes a historical analysis of the concepts of psychology, psychiatry and psychotherapy, assuming that, despite current institutional differences, they share a common interest in the soul or mind. The aim of this paper is to present an alternative path for the development of psychotherapy as a practical continuation of the concept of psychologia anthropologica introduced by Otto Casmann in the late 16th century. The text traces the conceptual evolution from the first appearances of the term Psychologia, Otto Casmann's two-volume treatise (Psychologia anthropologica, 1594, 1596), through the conception of the idea of medical psychology, to the emergence of the term Psychotherapy in the 19th century. Unlike existing studies that analyze the history of these categories separately, this article considers them within a single, coherent developmental process. The analysis is framed within the perspective of the history of ideas and focuses on the intellectual continuity between theoretical psychology and practical medical psychology, thus revealing the long-term transformation of ideas from the 16th to the 19th century.